Fraud-preventing device.



G. A. LONG.

FRAUD PREVENTING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 4, 1908.

v Patented Apr. 6, 1909.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY.

GEORGE A. LONG, 01* HARTFORD, CUNIiliC'lICUll, ASSlGNOl-Z TO STATION COM FAX Y, O F

This can TELEPHONE PAY FRAUD -PRE VE N TIN G DE VICE To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that l, Gnoncn A. LONG, a citize'n'of the United States, and a resident of Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvem nts in Fraud- Preventing Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide means'to prevent the operation of toll collecting instruments by coins or tokens of improper value.

The invention has been developed in connection with telephone pay stations and is illustrated and described in connection with such an instrument, though it may be adapted for use in other coincontrolled machines.

In the drawingsl igure 1 is a view in detail of a coin cl'iannel in which my invention is embodied. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a pay station box showing the coin channel in dotted lines.

As is well known, to collect a toll for line. They are made with one, two, three, or moresets ofsignals, all dil'l'ereiu', and it is intended that coins of different values shall operate the various signals. That is to say, the nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar and dollar, each operate their own particular signal, so that the central operator when she hears a given signal will know exactly bow much money has been deposited. The trouble has been that some users of telephone pay stations, particularly of the portable type, at tem t to operate the signals with coins of sma ler value than those which the signals are intended to indicate. For instance, the nickel signal is sounded with a cent, the quarter signal with a nickel or some coin of lower value, and so on, with the result that the operating ronmanies are defrauded The stationary machines are provided with traps to, prevent this. The portable machines are also provided with various devices to prevent such fraud, some of which are partially successful. However, by exercising a little care and ingenuity it is possible to beat some of the machines so equipped. It is in order to wholly prevent such fraud on the companies that the herein described invention has been produced.

pay stations are intended the use of the telephone Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed November 4,1908.

Patented April 6, 1909. Serial N0. 461,024.

I make a coin channel in spiral form for at least a part of its length so that the coin as it passes through it is forced to travel in a spiral path. Then I cut away the outer side of the channel in the. spiral part, leaving just enough of a webtop and bottom so that the proper coin is retained in the channel and forced to follow the spiral pathl These guiding webs are not deep enough to engage any coin smaller than the one which the channel is intended to take so that if such a smaller coin is. deposited in the channel it will run out through this discharge opening or trap so soon as the channel begins to take its spiral form. The small coin follows the natural path through the llat part of the channel and out of the discharge. opening, while the proper coin is-forced into the unnatural spiral path of movement by the channel. The length of the discharge opening or trap in the side of the channel and the extent of the spiral form of the channel can be deter'nined for any-given condition, and can and probably would vary in different cases, without departing from the spirit of my invention which is present in any channel which conducts a proper coin or token in a spiral path and has a trap in the guiding side of the spiral path for the discharge of improper coins.

in the drawings a is the case, b the coin slot, c the channel, (I the signal, 0 the spiral part of the channel, f the guiding or outer side thereof, g the discharge outlet or trap, 7t h the guiding wcbs which hold and guide the proper coin.

The character of the movement of the com, Whether by gravity or otherwise, and the character of the parl operated upon by the coin, either the signal proper, a hammer or other signal-sounding mechanism, may be varied to suit given conditions without dcparting from the spirit of my invention.

1. A coin channel made in the form of a spiral formant of its length and a trap in the outer side of said spiral part, substantially as described and for the purposes set forth.

2. A coin channel made in the form of a spiral tllltHlglIOIlil part of its length, guiding webs along the top and bottom of the outer side of the spiral part of said channel, said outer side between said guiding webs being ress toward said signaling device, and a cut away to form a discharge outlet. discharge out-let for a 00in of improper size 3. A casing, a, 00111 slot, a signaling delocated in Si-Lld spiral path. 7 Vice in the casing, a channel to rece ve a de-. GEORGE A. LONG.

posited coin and conduct it to said signaling Witnesses:

device, means for causing a coin of proper I D. S. KREIMENDAHL, size to move in a spiral path during its prog- H. E. HART. 

